Fact Checker: Joni Ernst on presidential costs

Introduction

'The Presidential Allowance Modernization Act examines how former presidents are spending taxpayer dollars and would set the annual allowances for former presidents at $200,000 - far below levels spent today ... These taxpayer funded perks include, but are not limited to, communications, office space, staff and travel expenses ... In fiscal year 2015, former U.S. presidents cost taxpayers more than $2.4 million in travel, office space, communications, personnel and other expenses.”

Source of claim:

Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst in a news release her office issued about a bill she has sponsored in Congress.

Analysis

According to the Congressional Research Service, which works for Congress providing policy and legal analysis, presidents who left office before 1958 received no federal pensions or financial assistance, leaving Ulysses S. Grant and Harry S. Truman to struggle financially after leaving the White House. Truman returned home with a small pension from his stint in the military during World War I, which offered him $112.56 a month. During his last full year as president, he had earned $100,540. In 1954, he earned $13,565. These struggles led to Congress passing The Former Presidents Act in 1958, which requires the U.S. government provide former presidents with a pension, support staff, office support, travel funds and mailing privileges to 'maintain the dignity” of the office of the president and help him respond to post-presidency mail and speaking requests and other informal public duties, according to the General Services Administration.

Currently, four former presidents - Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George Bush - receive these benefits.

We'll break this claim into two portions. First, in the release, Ernst said her proposed bill would set annual allowances for office space, staff, etc. for former presidents at $200,000, 'far below levels spent today.” Ernst's bill wouldn't affect any pension former presidents receive from the U.S. government but would allot only $200,000 for these 'extra” benefits.

In fiscal year 2015, which ended June 30, 2015, former presidents spent between $225,000 and $884,000 on communications, office space and related expenses, according to a report issued by the Congressional Research Office. The top spenders were Bill Clinton, who spent $706,000 on these expenses (more than half of that went to office space) and George W. Bush, who spent the most, $884,000.

Under current law, former U.S. presidents are allotted $1 million per year on travel, $150,000 per year on office staff (which is reduced to $96,000 after 30 months), and any amount required for a 'suitable office space located anywhere in the United States.”

That report shows Bush spent $207,000 on office space in fiscal 2015, which according to a CNN report, pays for 8,000 square feet of office space in Dallas. The $112,000 Jimmy Carter spent on office space in fiscal 2015 went toward an office in Atlanta. Meanwhile, last year, George H.W. Bush's Houston office cost taxpayers $207,000 a year, and Bill Clinton's New York City office cost $429,000 a year.

Second: Ernst claimed those perks cost taxpayers more than $2.4 million for past presidents' travel, office space, communications, personnel and other expenses. That same report showed the four living former presidents did, in fact, receive that amount for expenses in fiscal 2015.

Conclusion

The intent of Ernst's bill is to cut down on how much former presidents receive from taxpayers after they leave office. According to the General Services Administration, Ernst's numbers are correct.

The GSA, however, also notes that the benefits to former presidents, when adjusted for inflation, have declined from fiscal 1998 to fiscal 2015. In that report, the GSA said some former presidents have, in the past, chosen to reduce and limit their expenses due to sequestration and budgetary restrictions.

Since Ernst's numbers are correct, we score this claim an 'A.”

The Fact Checker team checks statements made by an Iowa political candidate/office holder or a national candidate/office holder about Iowa, or in advertisements that appear in our market. Claims must be independently verifiable. We give statements grades from A to F based on accuracy and context.

If you spot a claim you think needs checking, email us at factchecker@thegazette.com.

' This Fact Checker was researched and written by Jessie Hellmann.